Heracleidae
Euripides
Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Translated into English Prose from the Text of Paley. Vol. I. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1906.
- Thou shalt see me smite some foeman through the shield.
- Perhaps, if ever we get there. I have my fears of that.
- Ah! would to Heaven that thou, mine arm, e’en as I remember thee in thy lusty youth, when with Heracles thou didst sack Sparta, couldst so champion me to-day! how I would put Eurystheus to flight! since he is too craven to wait the onslaught.
- For prosperity carries with it this error too a reputation for bravery; for we think the prosperous man a master of all knowledge.
- O earth, and moon that shines by night, and dazzling radiance of the god,
- that giveth light to man, bear the tidings to me, shout aloud to heaven for joy, and beside our ruler’s throne, and in the shrine of grey-eyed Athene.
- For my fatherland and home will I soon decide the issue of the strife with the gleaming sword, because I have taken suppliants under my protection.
- ’Tis a fearful thing, that a city
- prosperous as Mycenae is, one famed for martial prowess, should harbour wrath against my land; still, my countrymen, it were a shameful thing in us to yield up suppliant strangers
- at the bidding of Argos. Zeus is on my side, I am not afraid; Zeus hath a favour unto me, as is my due; never by me[*](Dindorf’s emendation is followed in this corrupt passage; ἥσσονες παρ’ ἐμοὶ θεοὶ φανοῦνται.) shall gods be thought weaker than mortal men.
- O dread goddess,[*](Pallas.) thine the soil whereon we stand, thine this city, for thou art its mother, queen, and saviour; wherefore turn some other way the impious king, who leadeth a host
- from Argos with brandished lance against this land; for, such my worth, I little merit exile from my home.
- For thy worship[*](The festival of the Panathenaea is alluded to.) is aye performed with many a sacrifice, and never art thou forgotten as each month draweth to its close,
- when young voices sing and dancers’ music is heard abroad, while on our wind-swept hill goes up the cry of joy to the beat of maidens’ feet by night.
- Mistress, the message that I bring is very short
- for thee to hear and fair for me, who stand before thee, to announce. O’er our foes we are victorious, and trophies are being set up, with panoplies upon them, taken from thy enemies.
- Best of friends! this day hath wrought[*](Keiske, διήνυσεν for the unusual διήλασεν.) thy liberty by reason of these tidings.
- But there still remains one anxious thought thou dost not free me from;—a thought of fear;—are those, whose lives I cherish, spared to me?
- They are, and high their fame through all the army spreads.
- The old man Iolaus,—is he yet alive?